The Mac has not been known as a premier gaming platform for quite a
while. Back when it was the only GUI in town, you could find games
galore for the platform. As Windows became more widely used, the bulk
of entertainment programming migrated to the Wintel world. However,
with OS X that trend is reversing.
Although I do not claim to be a game expert, I certainly know as
much as the next guy when it comes to finding different ways to waste
time. Here are six of my favorite ways to kill a day on my Mac:
1. MacSolitaire
Windows includes a Solitaire game free. The free game included with
Mac OS X is Chess. Someone with training in psychology could
probably write an entire essay on the significance of this.
Unfortunately, I find that I have a lot more success playing Solitaire
than I do Chess.
MacSolitaire is a great Solitaire game. First of all it is free,
which never hurts. It has all of the usual preference options. It
automatically saves the last state of your game when you exit. Some
people call this a feature; others a bug. It all depends on your point
of view.
MacSolitaire runs natively on Mac OS X and, since it is a
Carbon application, will also run on OS 8.6 and 9.x with the
appropriate Carbon Library updates.
2. CocoaMines
The other game you will find on your computer after installing (or
reinstalling) Windows is Mine Sweeper. I am not a fan of this game,
most likely due to the fact that I can never seem to win. However, my
wife loves it. She gives
CocoaMines a thumbs up. As its name implies, it was developed with
Apple's Cocoa programming language, so it will only run under
OS X. And once again, it is free.
3. Civilization III
I have probably spent more hours (wasted more time?) on the
Civilization family of games than on any other single computer pursuit.
From the original Civilization on the PC to Civilization II (and now
III) on my Mac, these are guaranteed addictive.
If strategy games are your forte, Civ3 is waiting for you. For players of
previous versions of Civilization, you will find many familiar features
in Civ3. A few things have been changed or eliminated, and a few
features added. Spend a few minutes on the tutorial, and you will be up
to speed in no time.
The first thing you will notice is that the graphics have been
improved - tremendously. In fact, the program won't run with anything
less than 1024 x 768 resolution. Unfortunately, the box for the Mac
version neglects to inform the prospective purchaser of this
requirement. Needless to say, I was more than a little disappointed
when I tried to run it on my iBook/466.
I installed it on my iMac DV+ and have enjoyed it, but not being
able to take it with me on the road (which is the only place I
generally have time to devote to such pursuits) without a
top-of-the-line PowerBook or new iceBook is a huge disadvantage. The
game was developed by the legendary Sid Meier at Firaxis. The Mac version was ported by
MacSoft, which always turns out a
quality product.
4. Monopoly
The classic board game is even better on your Mac! Currently,
Monopoly is only
available as a Classic application. However, it runs fine on OS X
in Classic mode.
5. MacScrabble
Scrabble is
another all-time favorite board game which I can never seem to win.
This is also a Classic app, but it runs great on OS X in Classic
mode.
6. LimeWire
Leisure time is not only for gaming but also for music. LimeWire is
the foremost program for accessing the Gnutella network.
With the demise of Napster, peer-to-peer file sharing quickly came
to dominate the Internet. Instead of a master directory of all
computers and their available being stored on a central sever ala
Napster, Gnutella searches from
one host to the next. This is, of course, not nearly as efficient, but
it is also not nearly as easy to shut down.
Gnutella shares include much more than just music. Images, programs,
even entire TV shows and movies can be found (have fun downloading
"Star Trek: Insurrection" on your 28.8 dialup!). Whether you are
looking for Steve Millers "Big Ol Jet Airliner" or the latest photos of
Britney Spears, Gnutella is the place to find it and LimeWire is the way to search it.
